


Forever

by Kaunis_Sielu



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 02:24:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 5,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12949275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaunis_Sielu/pseuds/Kaunis_Sielu





	1. Chapter 1

The explosion shook building. You didn’t know that bricks could rattle but they did. There was a lot of yelling, people grabbing guns and other weapons then rushing out of the room. You grasp the arm of one of the commanders, Popov.  
“What’s going on?” You ask him, the panic lacing your voice.   
“We’re being attacked!” He sneers and the fear of angering him causes you to release his arm. “I’m sorry дорогой.” He soothes. “I’m just worried. It is S.H.I.E.L.D. and you know what kind of monsters they are.” You nod. You’ve heard the stories. How they murdered the Winter Solider, a man who was just trying to make the world a better place. Admittedly he was doing that by killing people but they were bad people too, people who were dangerous.   
“What do you want me to do?”  
“Go to your room дорогой. I will come and get you when it is safe.” He pats your arm tenderly then you hurry down to your room. You close your door and lock it then hurry to the far side of the room. Dropping down onto your bed the old metal frame squeaks loudly but you hardly notice anymore. You hardly notice the thin blankets that are rough against your fingers, the too thin pillow and the metal springs that seem to poke you through the mattress. You didn’t have time to grab anything so all you’ve got to entertain yourself is what’s in the room. A notebook, pen, needle, thread, your three outfits, the tall lamp that lights the room and your bed. The light flickers, and you hear a low hissing noise coming from the vents. The room starts to smell, odd, almost stale and you realize that they’re pumping the rooms full of gas. Effectively killing all of their experiments, you cough. Your body trying to reject the poison. It’s failing. You lay on the bed, and close your eyes, people in the rooms next to yours are screaming through the coughs. You’re able to make out pleas for help, all in Russian but the gas keeps coming. The begging dies away, like it has in the past. This isn’t your first rodeo. You know you’ll wake up. They can’t kill you. They’ve tried. On the outside you’re still 26, same eye color, same hair color. As you start to fade out of consciousness you wonder if Popov will actually come back for you. The last thing you’re aware of are the explosions drawing nearer.


	2. Chapter 2

When you start to come to you can hear their voices. You’re not on your bed anymore, but instead a cold hard surface. Cracking an eye open you see the others. The people that had to be locked into their rooms because they weren’t trusted, not like you. The others that Hydra had killed to protect. You weren’t going to be so lucky. They were speaking English, a welcome change.   
“Cap we’ve searched the entire base. Everyone they left here is dead.” A man’s voice says. His steps are loud, they clack heavily against the floor like he’s wearing metal shoes. This must be the Iron Man you’d heard about, a dangerous technology genius who could fly, shoot missiles out of his hands and everything.   
“Alright, we should bury the bodies. Give them some respect, they were victims.” This voice is female, not something you were expecting. It’s also not American like the first voice, she’s got an accent and her voice is soft.   
“Excuse me.” A smooth voice says, “But I believe we’re wrong. They are not all dead.” How does he know? You haven’t moved, except for that peek out of your eye. Could he have seen that?   
“What do you mean Vision? I scanned them all when we brought them out of their rooms.”  
“She is alive.” He says, you didn’t even hear him walk over. “You are safe now.” He touches your arm and your eyes pop open and you roll away from them with a terrified shriek. You become even more terrified when you see him, he’s an odd pinkish purple color and is floating effortlessly off the ground.   
“Woah, we’re not going to hurt you!” The one that you assumed was Iron Man says. He’s a terrifying man, his mouth doesn’t move when he talks and his eyes glow.   
“Maybe you should take off your helmet.” The woman says, she looks familiar, “It is alright.” She soothes as she comes closer.   
“No!” You shriek as you shrink away from the three of them. “Stay away from me!” You backpedal on your hands and feet trying to get away from them. Scurrying to your feet you bolt down a long hallway and back to the safety of your room.   
“Cap you’ve got one coming your way.” You hear Iron Man say from behind you as you attempt to loose him and the other two he’s with. Glancing over your shoulder you’re pleased to see that you’ve lost them. At least until you round the corner and crash into a broad shouldered man in a blue suit. His blue helmet covers his head to his cheekbones with space for his eyes. There’s a brown strap around his chin and a silver A in the center of his forehead. His hands instinctively wrap around your biceps to keep you from falling. You shove away from him and into your room, slamming the door and resting your back on it you know it’s not going to keep him out for long. Captain America.


	3. Chapter 3

You scream as the door is forced open with a loud bang. You’re pretty sure that it was a well placed kick that sent the metal door flying in.   
“Please. Please. Don’t. Please don’t.” You plead with him as he slowly creeps into your room. “Don’t hurt me. Please just leave me here.” You beg.   
“I’m not going to hurt you.” He promises as he moves low, so that he’s level with you on the floor. You shrink into the smallest ball you possibly can and keep yourself crammed in the corner. “Do you know who I am?”  
“You’re Captain America. You work for monsters. Murderers.”  
“I work for S.H.I.E.L.D. not Hydra.”  
“I know. Hydra told me what you’ve done.”  
“I think they’ve been telling you lies.” He says gently. He sits down on the floor close to you but not touching you. “Please let us help you. Hydra tried to kill you.”  
“He said he’d come back for me.”  
“Who did?”  
“Popov. He said to stay in my room until he came for me.” He’s quiet for a second before continuing.   
“General Popov is on his way to jail. He was responsible for killing hundreds of people. He tried to kill you.” He doesn’t seem at all like the dangerous man you’d been warned about.   
“I don’t understand.” You whisper softly, brows furrowed as you stare at the floor between you and Captain America.  
“Please let me help you.” He says softly and you hear a small click. You shrink away assuming that it’s a gun being cocked. “It’s okay. I’m just getting my helmet off.”  
“You killed The Winter Solider.”  
“Bucky’s not dead.”  
“What did you just say?” You ask in surprise.   
“Bucky’s not dead. The Winter Solider’s real name is James Buchanan Barnes. He’s my best friend, since we were kids in Brooklyn.” That’s when you look up at him and your mouth drops open in surprise.   
“Steve?” You hardly breathe the word it comes out of your mouth so softly you’re actually impressed when his surprised blue eyed gaze meets yours. Then he breathes your name.


	4. Chapter 4

Your head is spinning. How is this possible? Steve. Your Steve. He was Captain America?  
“This is a trick.” You whisper softly, not daring to believe that he was actually sitting here. Before you quite know what you’re doing you’ve reached out to touch him, make sure he’s real. The second your hand touches the soft flesh of his cheek your doubt vanishes. His eyes close and his face tilts toward your hand and the move is so familiar, so natural that a small sob escapes your lips before you wrap your arms tightly around his neck.   
“Sweetheart.” He breathes, “How is this possible?”   
“I was just going to ask you the same question.” You say, your hand caressing the back of his head. His hands creep around your waist, moving slowly so he doesn’t startle you. You close your eyes and bury your face in the crook of his neck.   
“Whoa! What’s going on here?” Iron Man demands and you duck behind him. A small squeak of fear passing through your lips.   
“It’s okay Doll it’s okay.” Steve soothes, never removing his hands from your waist. “Tony take off the helmet. She thinks we’re the villains.”  
“What? Everyone knows that Hydra is the bad guys.” Iron Man, or Tony as Steve had called him, scoffs.   
“Not if you’ve been held by Hydra for the last, oh seventy years or so.”  
“Fifty-five.” You say softly into his chest.   
“What?”  
“It’s been fifty-five years. They came to our house. Told me they’d found you but I think they figured out my secret.”  
“What secret?”  
“I don’t age. I’ve looked like this since 1947.” You tell them, the room groaning around you as bricks continue to shift.   
“Cap we’ve gotta get out of here before we can’t.” Iron Man Tony says sounding slightly on edge.   
“Doll?” Steve asks, “Are you coming with us?”  
“I’m not loosing you again Steve Rogers.” You tell him sternly causing a grin to break out on his face.   
“Alright doll. We can catch up on the jet, it’s a long ride.” He stands and takes your hand.   
“It has to look like I don’t want to go. Like I’m fighting you or Hydra will know I know they lied.”  
“How about if I carry you over my shoulder?”  
“That should work. I’m going to go limp so it looks like I’m unconscious.” Steve nods and gently picks you up, you hang limply over his shoulder but can’t help the small giggle that slips out when he starts to run. It feels like you’re flopping all over the place. He’s faster than he’d ever been and before you know it he’s setting you down gently in a chair on a sleek jet. It looks much different than the Hydra ones but you’ve got a feeling that most of the world looks different than the one Hydra painted for you.   
“Alright Sweetheart.” Steve says sitting down next to you, “Tell me everything.”


	5. Chapter 5

You settle into Steve’s embrace and then begin your story.   
“I was working at one of Stark’s factories. I started right after we called off the engagement.”  
“Woah woah. You guys were engaged?” Tony interrupts as he spins around in the driver’s seat to face you.   
“Yea, shouldn’t you be flying this thing so we don’t die?” You ask gripping Steve’s arm in anticipation of the plane doing a nosedive.   
“It’s on auto pilot so it’ll fly itself.” He explains with a kind smile. He’s much less intimidating without his armor on.   
“Go ahead and continue sweetheart.” Steve says softly into your ear.   
“Oh, right.” You say before thinking back. “There was a bad chemical reaction, we had to evacuate and I got caught when I went back to help one of the other women. She died in the explosion, I lost the ability to die.”  
“So you’ll never die?” The girl that looks familiar asks.   
“As far as I know.” You tell her with a shrug. “I hid out for a few years. I was given your flag by Ms. Carter, she thought I should have it. She was so wonderful, I don’t think I would have been able to pull myself out of my grief without her. Hydra came in the summer of 1962. Said that they had found you, that you were alive even though you’d been in the ice for almost 20 years. I didn’t even hesitate. God Steve, I missed you so much that I just believed them.”  
“I’m so sorry sweetheart.” Steve mutters pressing a soft kiss to your temple. His mannerisms are the same, just like the last time he’d been to see you. After he’d been changed, but his physical form is so much different. You’re used to a Steve that you’d curl around to keep warm. This Steve practically radiates heat, which is fine with you. Sometimes it seems like you can’t shake the chill, too long in a Hydra cell.   
“It’s alright. I just can’t believe that you’re alive, that you’re here.” You say softly. His team seems to understand that the two of you need some time alone. To talk and catch up. It’s been seventy some years since you’ve seen him and he doesn’t look a day over 27.   
“Bucky is alive too. He’s just, sleeping. Hydra too over his mind and made him into The Winter Solider.” Steve explains, his voice humming through you, you’re pulled so perfectly against him.   
“I saw him once. I just didn’t know it was him until now.” You still remember the way those ice blue eyes widened then the brow furrowed when the two of you had locked gazes. You’d been thrown out the second that one of the higher ups realized you were there, you’d been punished for it too. Several stab wounds that had hurt, but healed. “His eyes looked so familiar to me but they kept a mask on his face. I couldn’t figure out why those eyes had haunted my dreams for so long.” You admit to him, “I could have helped him.”  
“And gotten yourself hurt or killed in the process? He wouldn’t have wanted that.” Steve counters and you know he’s right but it doesn’t ease the guilt. You sit in silence for the rest of the trip, you doze off a few times your head pressed to where Steve’s heart thumps loudly against his chest. It practically sings “he’s here. He’s alive.” With every thump. As the jet makes its slow dive toward the ground you bite the inside of your cheek. A nervous habit.   
“You’re going to be okay doll.” Steve says, catching the nervous tick.   
“I’ve got nothing.”  
“You’ve got me.”  
“I don’t have a place to live, a job, clothes. Any idea what the world is like now.” You’re starting to panic and Steve gently shushes you and strokes your hair.   
“Sweetheart, I’m not going anywhere. You can stay with me at the tower, we’ll learn things together and I’ll help you with what I can. I’ve got good people around me, people that will help you too.”  
“Steve. I’m scared.”  
“You’re the most brave person I know. You’ll face this like everything else, head on.”   
Damn him and his motivational speeches.


	6. Chapter 5

“I just realized I haven’t even introduced you to the team.” Steve says as the jet touches down, the landing is so gentle you hardly notice it until you stop moving. “That’s Tony Stark.” Steve tells you gesturing to the front of the plane.   
“Any relation to Maria Stark?”  
“My mom.” His sad voice comes from the front of the plane. You glance up curiously at Steve and he gives you a sad shake of the head. Maria had been a good friend of yours, you’d even been in her wedding before Howard’s job had taken them to California.   
“I’m sorry. Your mom and I got into plenty of trouble together during the war.” You chuckle at the memories that come flooding back. “She was a good friend.”  
“I want to hear some of these stories soon.” Tony says turning the chair toward you when he gives you a cheeky grin you’re startled by how much it looks like his mom’s.   
“Of course.” You agree as he passes you and heads out the back of the jet.   
“This is Wanda Maximoff.”  
“I too was with Hydra once in my belief that the Avengers were the monsters.” She says softly and it clicks as to who she is.   
“The Twins.” You gasp. Two of the few that actually survived.   
“My brother is dead, now I go by the code name Scarlett Witch.”  
“I’m sorry. It’d have been nice to have another person who understood.”  
“We will have each other.” She tells you resting a soft hand on yours before she also leaves.   
“This is Vision. He’s an android.”  
“What’s an android?”  
“I am a machine. I was built by Ultron and given life by this magic gem from another world.” The android explains touching the stone on his forehead. He’s only confused you more.   
“Oh, uh, what?” You stammer and Steve chuckles softly.   
“I know. It’s confusing. I’ll show you the video, that should help.”  
“Thanks.” You tell him softly. This is going to be so overwhelming.   
“Ready?” Steve asks before standing and reaching a hand down for you.   
“Yes.” You tell him with trembling fingers. You stand and he presses a kiss to the top of your hand.   
“They’re going to love you.” He assures you as you cling to him, you’re clearly not hiding your fear.   
He introduces you to Dr. Bruce Banner, Steve praises the man for his incredible mind and kindness as the Doctor fiddled with his glasses.   
“I also turn into a giant green monster so there’s that.” He says, his voice soft.   
“Oh. Hydra is totally afraid of you. If that makes you feel better.” He looks thoughtful then gives you a gentle smile.   
“It does. Thank you.”  
Next is Steve’s new friend Sam Wilson. He’s friendly and has a booming laugh.   
“If you ever want to go flying sweet thing you let me know.” He throws you a wink as Steve’s grip on your hand tightens slightly.   
“Don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.” You laugh and he joins in causing your grin to grow.   
You meet Tony’s best friend, a serious man named Steve calls Rhody. You meet a teenage boy, named Peter who talks fast and doesn’t stop tinkering with the electronics on the table in front of him.   
“Just two left, Clint and Natasha.”  
“Are they married?”  
“No one is really sure. Either way they might as well be.” Steve says knocking on what you assume is their door. The man answers, and grins broadly at you.   
“So, this must be the Libby that we’ve heard about.”  
“We’ve been here a half an hour.” You say, your mouth opening in surprise.   
“News travels fast. I’m Clint Barton, or Hawkeye.”  
“Why Hawkeye?”  
“I can see better from a distance, and I don’t miss. Ever.”  
“What kind of gun do you use?”  
“That kind.” He says taking a step to the side and showing off a bow and arrow leaning against the couch. “Nat is coming, she was in the gym so she wanted to shower quick. You guys wanna come in?” Steve glances down at you and you give a little half nod, you can see a dog laying on its back inside the door. You haven’t seen a dog since your capture from Hydra. The dog comes over and gives you a sniff while you wait for Natasha to come out of the bathroom.  
“What’s his name?” You ask softly as you stroke the dog on the head.   
“Lucky.” Clint tells you with a smile. You’re feeling comfortable, welcome even. Until she walks in. The Black Widow.


	7. Chapter 7

You make it to the door before any of them even react. Yanking it open you sprint down the hall. Steve calling your name behind you. He catches up to you faster than you had expected and when his arm wraps around your waist you let out a terrified cry.   
“It’s me. Libby it’s me.” Steve coos trying to calm your shaking.   
“Why, why is sh-she here?” You stammer.   
“She’s an Avenger.” Steve tells you looking confused, “Have you met her before?”  
“Yes.” You whisper.   
“What happened?”  
“In the mid-seventies I escaped from Hydra. They sent her after me.” You’re shaking from the memory alone. The Black Widow had stalked you for days, no one had said it was going to be easy hiding when you had nothing. She’d dragged you back to Hydra, they’d made sure you didn’t try a stunt like that again, keeping you under lock and key for, well you didn’t know how long. She’d delivered you directly back into their hands.   
“She caught you didn’t she?”  
“Yes Sir.” You whisper before you can stop yourself. Hydra training.   
“You never have to call anyone that again sweetheart.” Steve says quietly.   
“I’m sorry. I didn’t. I didn’t mean for that to slip out.” You know your face must be beat red. “I’d like to go to bed please.”   
“Is my room okay? I can sleep in the living room.”  
“We’ve shared a bed before.”   
“I just want you to be comfortable.”   
“You make me feel safe. You always have.” You tell him taking his hand and he scoffs as he leads you down a hallway, away from the Black Widow.   
“Sweetheart I was scrawny, sickly and smaller than you. How in the world did I make you feel safe?” He asks rounding a corner then punching a code into a keypad next to the door. A code that looked suspiciously like your birthdate, the back of Steve’s neck flushes red when you glance up at him in curiosity. You laugh softly and kiss his cheek.  
“It’s sweet Steve.”   
“You didn’t answer my question.” He says gesturing you into his room before shutting the door and locking it.   
“What’s that?” You ask glancing around the room. It’s nothing super fancy but it’s neat and organized, just like his place used to be. It even smells like his old place.   
“How could I make you feel safe? I was smaller than you are.”  
“But you would have protected me until you couldn’t stand. Until your last breath.” You turn toward him and are surprised by the intense look he’s got on his face.   
“I’d still do that for you.” He tells you quietly but firmly before pressing his lips to yours.


	8. Chapter 8

It thrills you. His lips on yours again after all these years. The two of you didn’t end your engagement because you wanted to, it was Steve, trying to protect you, like usual. He said that the Nazi’s were too dangerous, they’d take you hostage if they’d known about you. Too bad it wasn’t Hydra he’d warned you about. They’d never have had the chance to capture you if he had.   
It’s so familiar, the pressure of his lips, the way they tease yours apart so he can slip his tongue past them. Your fingers bury themselves in his hair, pressing his mouth as close to yours as you can. It’s strange too though, to be kissing him at this size. You used to be even, shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart but now he’s more broad, stronger, taller. He pulls away with a soft groan.   
“I’m sorry.” He says, his breath sliding across your cheek.   
“What?”  
“I shouldn’t have ambushed you like that.”   
“Steve.” You whisper clinging to him, “Don’t. I’ve been waiting over 70 years to kiss you again. I thought I’d never get the chance. If you had really been dead and I can’t die then I was never going to see you again.” Tears are pricking your eyes and you’re trying desperately to keep them from spilling down your cheeks. You fail, “I’m sorry.”   
“For what?”  
“For crying.” You’re not to show emotions.   
“Oh sweetheart.” Steve coos, wrapping his arms around you. “You’re allowed to cry.”  
“I’m sorry. They didn’t do to me what they did to Bucky but they’ve still changed me.”  
“What can I do to help?”  
“I don’t know. This is all so overwhelming, it’s amazing and I can’t believe that it’s all happening.”  
“But?” He prompts.   
“But honestly I’m just so tired. And hungry.”  
“I’ll get you something to sleep in and if you want to take a shower you can do that and I’ll go make something to eat.”  
“Okay.” He presses another kiss to the top of your head before passing you a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.   
“I’ll be back in a few okay sweetheart. Make yourself at home, before Hydra at home.” He amends giving you a soft smile.


	9. Chapter 9

As the weeks turn into months you begin to break the habits that Hydra forced on you. You don’t panic over the options you have for clothes, you eat when you’re hungry and take longer showers than you probably should.   
You and Steve are still sharing a room. Even though Tony offered you one of your own, you’d declined, you’ve always felt safer curled up with Steve. He puts off a lot more heat now than he used to, it’s nice, it reminds you that you’re not back in the Hydra prison.   
You don’t know what you would have done without him. He’s been there when you’ve woken from nightmares, shaking and and crying. He’s been there when you’re confused about something, the technology, the slang, the pop culture references. Not that he’s much better than you are with some of those and to your surprise the person you’ve found yourself going to for help has actually been Natasha. After your initial encounter she’d begged Steve to let her talk to you. It had taken some convincing but you’d talked to her through a computer screen and she’d told you everything.   
The one thing you hadn’t been able to get out of anyone was where the hell Bucky is. You know he’s alive. Steve told you as much when he’d first found you. So you wait. You wait until one night, your leg between his, your torso pressed completely against his, one arm thrown across his chest your fingers intertwined with his. Head resting on his shoulder while he runs the fingers of his other hand lazily through your hair.   
“Steve?”   
“Hmm?”  
“Where’s Bucky?” His fingers stop, only for a heartbeat but it’s long enough. “You said he was alive.”  
“He is.”  
“Then where is he?”  
“He’s safe.”  
“Steve that’s not good enough anymore. I want to see him.” He tries to pull away from you, sort of, if he was really trying there’d be no stopping him.   
“Sweetheart please. He wouldn’t want you to see him like this.”  
“Why don’t you let him decide?”  
“Because he can’t!” Steve sounds exasperated. Not unusual when you fight, at least some things never change.   
“What do you mean he can’t?” You ask blinking up at him. “Steven Grant-”  
“He’s frozen.” Steve cuts you off. He won’t look at you but is instead looking up at the ceiling. “He wanted to go back under. Until we could figure out a way to remove the trigger words. To make him completely Bucky again.”  
“I wish you would have told me sooner.” You say softly. “I know how.”  
“Wait what?” His startled gaze meets yours.   
“I didn’t just sit around and knit all those years.” You tease gently, “I watched. I learned and I didn’t fight them. They may have torn me down but I was still in control of my own mind. I knew that someday I might be able to make my escape again. If I did they’d send him after me. The Winter Solider. They’d told me they’d let him kill me over and over in the most painful ways possible. If I let them think I was compliant I could learn how to protect myself. There’s a set of words that makes him into the Solider. Removing Bucky. But there’s also a phrase that removes the Solider and leaves Bucky.”   
“And you’re sure they’ll work?”  
“As sure as I can be without actually knowing.”   
“Tomorrow. We can go tomorrow.”  
“Okay.” You agree just before his fingers catch under your chin and tilt your face to his. He presses a soft kiss to your lips and you sigh happily. You’ll get to see Bucky tomorrow, and with any luck you’d get them both back, your fiancé and his best friend.


	10. Chapter 10

Nothing could have prepared you for this. Seeing Bucky like this, unconscious in a glass tube. His hair is still Winter Solider long but his face is relaxed, he honestly looks like he’s sleeping. Steve sighs softly and you squeeze his hand. He tears his gaze away from his best friend’s face and glances down at you with a hopeful smile.   
“How long until he’s conscious?” You ask.   
“Four hours.” An accented voice says from behind you. You hide your flinch at being startled well, most people wouldn’t have noticed, but these men aren’t most people. “My apologies Miss.” He says as he stands next to Steve. “I am T'Challa. King of Wakanda.”   
“It’s a pleasure to meet you your majesty.” You say softly, inclining your head in a small bow.   
“The pleasure is mine. The Captain has told me about you. I’ve never heard him so happy.” You can feel the heat rise in your cheeks, Steve already told him about you? “Would you like a tour while Sargent Barnes is woken?”  
“I’d like that very much.” You tell him honestly. He holds his arm out to you and you take it with a smile. You glance up at Steve and he nods before capturing your lips in a quick kiss.   
T'Challa is the perfect host. He walks you through the palace and the gardens. You can tell that he’s more than a little proud of his country and when he brings you to the highest tower you can’t help the gasp that passes your lips. You’ve never seen anything so green in you’re entire life.   
“It’s so beautiful.” You whisper, the awe clear in your voice.   
“I think so too.” T'Challa leans against the railing next to you and studies your face. “How long has it been since you were free to do as you pleased?”  
“Too long. When I think back on it I can’t understand how it was so long. Sometimes it feels like it was only a year.”  
“Time is strange like that.” He glances at the silver watch on his wrist then and smiles softly. “Sargent Barnes should be waking soon. Shall we go back down?”  
“Please.” You tell him and he offers you his arm again. You enter the room and Steve turns to you with a grin on his face, you’re confused until he steps to the side. Bucky is sitting on the examiners table.   
“No way.” He breathes when his eyes meet yours.   
“Hiya Buck.” You say and he laughs then wraps you in a tight one armed hug.


	11. Chapter 11

After your bone crushing hug with Bucky, one that Steve joins in on with a small laugh, you tell him why you’re there. To remove the Solider from his head.   
“Are you sure you can do this?” Bucky asks looking worried.   
“They trusted me. Let me wander around freely because I stopped fighting them. I watched and learned and listened. I can do this.” You assure him.   
“If you’re sure.” Bucky sounds anxious, he looks between you and Steve then lets out a shaky breath. “Let’s do this.”  
“It could take a few tries and probably isn’t going to be pleasant.” You warn gently, “This is Hydra we’re talking about.”  
“They don’t anything the nice and easy way do they?”  
“No. No they don’t.” You tell him, resting a hand on his forearm. He swallows thickly and then closes his eyes. You grasp his hand and take a slow breath. “Relax. Steve and I are here. We’ve got you.”  
“I wish you weren’t here. I don’t want to hurt you.”  
“You won’t.” You argue.   
“You don’t know that.”  
“Buck I’m not going to let you hurt her.” Steve promises. That’s when Bucky finally relaxes, you start the trigger words and he tenses again.   
“They change Bucky. It’s okay they change.”   
“Longing. Rusted. Seventeen.” He takes a shaky breath, this is when the words change. “Brooklyn. Captain. United.” His body relaxes again. “Freedom. America. President. Barnes.” He lets out a low growl and Steve pulls you away from him. “It’s okay Steve.” You soothe.   
“He growled.”  
“It’s a lot to take. He’s becoming Bucky again, it’s just as bad as when they’d wipe him. At least from what I overheard.” You shrug gently.   
“How long do you think it’s going to take? For him to be conscious?”  
“I don’t know.” The two of you watch him for a few minutes, neither of you moving. It would seem so creepy if Bucky hadn’t known the two of you were there before.   
An hour later Bucky comes to with a groan. Both you and Steve rush to his side from where you’d been sitting together on the floor.   
“Buck?” Steve says softly and Bucky looks around, looking confused.   
“Did it work?” Bucky asks looking up at you anxiously.   
“Should we find out?”   
“Yes.”  
“Are you sure Buck?” Steve asks clasping his best friend’s shoulder.   
“Yes.” Bucky repeats and you nod. Steve glances between the two of you and then sighs deeply.   
“I forgot how much the two of you stress me out sometimes.” Steve says before moving you behind him and taking a few steps back. He’s tense, you rest a hand on his lower back and start the process.   
“Longing. Rusted. Seventeen. Daybreak.” You say cautiously, he usually starts to react by now. “Furnace. Nine. Benign?” You can’t help the smile that starts to grow on your lips. “Homecoming, one, freight car!” You practically cry the last word you’re so thrilled that Bucky has had no reaction.   
“It’s over.” He grins up at you and Steve. “It’s over!”


End file.
